Hawaii, Day Five – Pearl Harbor

It seems that every time we visit the Major and Q-Bee, we take Ane out for a special day by herself to focus on American history.  While we were in DC, we gave her the day out and her special trip to Ford’s Theatre.  This time, we took her to Pearl Harbor.

Now, I have been to Pearl Harbor before – back in 1997.  It’s been a while.  And the national park complex that has been developed in the last 19 years is completely new to me.

We got tickets to go out to the USS Arizona Memorial at 10 am, but we had arrived at shortly after 7 am to just get in line for those tickets.  So we had a lot of time to walk outside, and go through the museum thoroughly.

Our trip out to the memorial was every bit as sobering as I remembered it.  Ane really only knew bits and pieces about the attack before we came, so the whole history of the visit was being absorbed as we went through the museum, and then watched the film before boarding the ferry.

Being at the memorial has the same feeling as being at a graveyard.  Because it is the same thing.

We opted to spend our entire day at Pearl Harbor, and see EVERYTHING.  So we purchased a “passport” ticket and went to the USS Bowfin Submarine Museum – which means we got to go on board the USS Bowfin.

When we were topside, Ane tried out sighting the deck guns.

We then took a shuttle bus over to the USS Missouri, which is docked at Ford Island.

The USS Missouri was the site of the Japanese surrender in 1945.

After stopping for a quick treat…

… we waited for the next shuttle, but I walked over to the USS Oklahoma Memorial.  It was dedicated in 2007.

The USS Oklahoma had the second-highest casualty rate on December 7, 1941, with 429 sailors and Marines dead.  There are marble “rails” – one for each person – at the memorial.

When the shuttle bus came, we went over to the Webmaster’s dream spot – the Pacific Aviation Museum, where he promptly geeked out.

There are two hangers that make up the museum on Ford Island – the working one, Hangar 79, still has the glass from the attack in the hangar door windows.  You can still see the bullet holes in the glass.

It was a long day, but worth it!

And now, to celebrate the Fourth!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 19th, 2016 at 12:40 am and is filed under Children, Vacation Tales.
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